New call charging system coming in just two months

Only two months remain until the new call charging changes from Ofcom come into effect. This means that call centres need to take stock of the new rules so they are ready for July 1st, 2015.

From the start of July, service charges for 087, 084, 118, and 09 numbers will have to be publicly declared. This means that although telephone answering services don’t have to worry about changes to mobile and landline numbers or international and payphone calls, a certain degree of transparency regarding call costs will have to be implemented. Ofcom’s rules mean that phone companies will have to tell consumers how much their access charges are. Meanwhile, service charges are calculated by individual companies, and it will be their responsibility to inform customers how much this costs.

Mike Murphy, one of Interactive Intelligence’s territory managers, said: “It will be easy for the consumer to compare with the “service charge” being charged by competitors, driving down the use of the 08, 09, or 118 numbers, especially in the contact centre market and encouraging the use the 03 numbers instead. The more these poor practices get eliminated, the sooner we will convince consumers to trust our brands through the contact centre.”

Call centres that want to prepare for the change need to identify the service charges on current lines and decide whether they want to keep them or switch to new numbers. For those that do not want to declare charges, it is vital to move to 01, 02, or 03 numbers, for example, in order to avoid the new regulations.